#drowning mckay

[starboye]

jealousy, jealousy

pairing: nate jacobs x male reader

summary: nate gets jealous that someone is flirting with you and decides to handle it his way

warnings: smut, some angst, lil praising, not established relationship, and yeah i think thats it

words: 1.1k

nate watched you from across the room with jealous eyes as you openly flirted with another man, the man giving you small touches and sappy compliments while nate stood there leaning on the living room wall beer in hand and annoyed look on his face as mckay tried to talk to him about his problems with cassie but he drowned his words out, only focusing on how you lit up while talking to the man.

he soon notices you heading to the bathroom and shoves his beer into mckays hand and walks to the bathroom, as youre about to close the door nate intercepts it and squeezes into the bathroom with you "what the fuck nate" you yell jumping back a little "we need to talk" nate demands locking the door "after what you've put me through i should fucking punch you" you say annoyed at the situation youre in.

"now you know you wouldnt do that to me" nate egotistically scoffs "dont flatter yourself now" you say "now what do you need to talk about" "why do you continue to make me suffer" nate asks closing the distance in between you two "how" you ask with furrowed eyebrows "by flirting with other guys while knowing the im watching you" nate asks now towering over you.

"well im sorry for trying to move on after our barely a situationship" you sarcastically say "c"mon you know you still love me deep down" nate says snaking his hand around your waist "no i dont nate" you say heart picking up pace quickly "then if you really dont, walk out right now and i wont follow" nate says kissing your neck, you glance at the door while trying to hold back a moan before wrapping your arms around nates neck.

"thats what i thought now let me make you feel good" nate grins before beginning to leave hickeys on your neck "youre mine" nate growls lowly "you dont own me" you say choking back a moan "then what do you call all those hickeys on your thighs and your chest" nate says moving his hand past your inner thigh to your neck.

"do you think any other guy could make you fell better than this" nate questions turning your head to the side to lay more kisses before squeezing his hand lightly on your neck making you let out a moan "n-no" you shyly say "oh no dont be shy baby you werent shy when you were flirting with that other guy" nate says smirking widely.

"what was his name anyways" nate asks lubing up his hand with his saliva "el- eliot" you stutter due to the feeling of nates hands sliding past your underwear and to your hole "well ill be sure to give eliot a visit after this, to tell him youre taken" nate says.

"you want me to put it in" nate asks turning your head to look him in the eyes "mhm" you whimper "use your words" nate demands "yes" you moan "thats a good boy" nate says sinking his fingers into your warm hole resulting in you moaning loudly before dropping your head onto nates chest.

"you always did look so cute when id finger you" nate chcukles "please fuck me" you squeak "speak up y/n" nate says "please fuck me nate" you let out with a breathy moan "i happily will" nate grunts lightly pushing you onto the wall, your face resting on the bathroom wall.

nate unbuttons his pants and lets his lengthy hard on fall out "is this what you want" nate asks sliding his dick up and down your bare ass "yes please" you moan "then you can have it" nate say sliding into you quickly, you let out a passionate moan while nate lets out a deep hungry groan.

"still tight as the day i first fucked you" nate chuckles "what, no man can fuck you like i can" nate asks hips thrusting into yours "no only you can" you weakly say "thats right only i can fuck this pretty hole" nate demands.

you let out needy moans with every thrust nate makes into you making nate go harder with each one, you hear a knock at the door and stop all movement but nate doesnt "what" nate yells still fucking you deeply "i gotta piss" some random guy yells outside the door "well go piss outside im busy" nate shouts before directing his attention back to fucking you.

"hell no theres people out there" the guy yells now pounding on the door "dude get fucking lost im busy" nate curses "nate lets just get out" you try to calm the situation "im not leaving till im done fucking you now shut up" nate snarls as the dude starts banging on the door and telling nate to get out.

"get the fuck away from the door or i promise to god ill fucking kill you" nate barks loudly punching the wall "fine fuck this" the guy says walking away, "thank god" nate sighs "now back to you" "you didnt have to do all that" you say rolling your eyes.

"dont you worry your pretty little brain about problems i got you" nate reassures "and roll your eyes again and ill make sure they stay back there" nate lowly says in your ear with a harsh smack to your ass, nate tightly grips your hips and eagerly watches as you moan and whimper to the thrusts of his cock.

he admires how your hole tightly grips his dick after every movement desperately wanting his cum in you " youre so pretty" nate compliments "please shut up and cum in me" you whine "i wonder how someone so cute and nice can turn into a cock whore in a matter of minutes but i guess i could give you what you want" nate chcuckles.

nate pounds into you with an unrelenting rythm before cummin in you with a long husky groan "you gonna cum" nate asks as his dick still spasms in you "mhm" you whine desperatley before nates large hand wraps around your dick and pumps it quickly.

it doesnt take long before you cum all over nates hand with a shaky moan "lick it off" nate orders holding his hand to your face before you eagerly lick every drop of his fingers "good boy" nate coos kissing the top of your head.

"y'know jealousy looks good on you" you say "im not the jealous type but whats mine is mine" nate retorts "fuck you" you snarl "wether you like it or not youre stuck with me" nate say kissing you "yeah yeah whatever" you chuckle, you knew this ind of happiness wasnt gonna last long but you were determined to keep it for as long as possible.

[not-quite-girl-nor-quite-boy]

So, hello and welcome to whumptober day six proof of life. Im doing "ive got a pulse" because... fun? I guess? And day seven will arrive eventually as well as day seven of suptober, anyway today im doing a stargate atlantis one today because i can and no one can stop me. So... have fun <3

Whumptober day 6- proof of life (ive got a pulse)

"John!" Teyla called itching trying to tear off the suit she was wearing. With Mkcay's suit already off due to his near constant compaints of an allergic reaction to the fabric or whatever, he dove in immediately. Once in the icy water he immediately had to surprise the urge to gasp in shock but he had to stay on task. John had been stunned and fell into a body of water, his suit was torn from an earlier interaction with a rusty nail, they all had written it off thinking of it as little more than a minor inconvinience meaning they would have to mend it later, however when it had snagged on thick branch the entire chest of his suit had torn clean open. But it didnt matter in the moment, all that mckay knew was unconscious human plus body of water usually meant a drowned man. Mckay swam fast and hard through the icy water his eyes stunning from the salt content of the water, he shot through the water like a bullet sheddingnhis jacket behind him as he moved to cut down on the drag. He finalky caught sight of the military man's black hair and repositioned himself appropriately to propell towards him efficiently.

He grabbed a hold of the mans vest hauling him up by the shoulder, he kicked hard pulling him up as he swam, his vision blurring from the lack of oxygen and fighting the urge to take a deep inhale. He finally reached the sufrace watching teyla and ronon run towards him on the beach, he held shepherd's head above the water, listeing for any sounds of breath... none. He cursed lightly before feeling teyla and ronon pull the man (more drag really) ashore. Mckay climbed out after him before kneeling next to the man.

"Ok, come on shepherd. Come on." He felt the mans kneck looking for the reliable comforting thump beneath his finger tips. "Ive got a pulse!" He sughed in relief. "Well technically, i guess hes got a pulse... Whatever." He finished before beggining the chest compressions trying to return the natural rhythm to his chest and restore the all too improtant rising and falling to his lungs. Almost immediately shepherd coughed up the salty liquid onto the ground while mckay turned him onto his side so he wouldnt choke.

"Youre ok, youre ok. Just deep breaths." Mckay comforted. "Deep breaths." He repeatedly calmly and softly rubbing the colnels back as he breathed wuth teyla and ronon watching the pair in conern and awe.

"You ok?" The dr asked him.

"Thanks, thanks Mckay. Im good." He breathed depply his head falling to rest in rodney's lap.

" good job mckay!" Ronon aplauded. As teyla produced a nervous chuckle before dissolving into genuine laughter realesing her tention and anxiety through bursts of giggles.

"You sure youre ok?" Rodney asked.

"You arent an MD doctor mckay." John joked smiling up at him.

"Yeah and you almost drowned colonel so just... humour me ok?" His sarvastic facade dropped like a lead balloon revealing just how scared he truly was. This revealed jarred john slightly, shocked to see mckay that open and feeling a sudden onset of guilt for just how scared he had made his friend.

"Yeah, yeah Rodney im fine. Don't worry. I'm all pinsean and needles from the stunned but the suit got most of it, im shivering and cold but im fine. Just a little shaken is all." Shepherd consolled. Trying to soothe the nerves of his friend.

"Ok." Mckay nodded before moving to allow him sit up.

"We should probably go." Shepherd decided before standing up to leave. He could feel mckays worried eyes on him the rest of the way to the gate but by the time he had arrived back in atlantis mckay had already radioed in asking for a medical team to meet them in thencontroll tower. Shepherd was rolled off in a gurney he insisted was unnecessary but mckay informed him it was not up to him.

Beckett insisted that shepherd would be ok and only then did mckay allow himself leave his side to do work and insignificant things as such. John was touched and smittened by mckays caringness and affection towards him obviously he would never admit it to him john was grateful for the extra attention on top of him saving his life. He smiled at the man as he walked away grateful and loving before deciding to turn in, he was pretty tired already from being almost dead so he thought he had earned the extra few hours of rest.

He went to sleep smiling at the though of mckay.

A/N: so i dont know why but for the day 7 one i think it will be another stargate atlantis one for no reason in particular other than i plan to go the hypoglycaemic route for "shaking hands" and i can think of no more appropriate a character for hypoglycemia than Dr Rodney Mckay. Anyway this one probably has way worse grammar, puntiation, etc. Because I'm exhausted. Peace out.

Hope you had fun<3

[wistfulpoltergeist]

Sean McKay

For the Yasmine's Desires BC by @aniraklova

Adult | Self-Assured | Maker | Jealous

Sean McKay used to lead a reckless life travelling on his harley from the dusty tracks of Strangerville to the misty roads of Forgotten Hollow. When he met Gloria in the roadside café he decided to finally settle on the solid land, have family, four kids, two dogs, three cats, grow veggies. Alas! None of this meant to happen. As Gloria tragically died in the car accident. Heavy years of depression drowned in all sorts of nectar followed shortly after as Sean saw in the death of his beloved a twisted whim of the Fate. Roads he used to adore so much eventually took the most precious from him... With the help of his friends, (slowly but surely) Sean overcame the nectar demon and stood on the path of a new life. "Talk if you can" show followed him through all the darkest nectar hours of his eclipse. Yasmine's passion for life and ambitious strength inspired Sean to fight for his own future. To see the light of a new day. The idea to take a part in Yasmin's dating show started as a joke at first. Sean's friends often gagged at him calling Yasmin his secret girlfriend because of his interest in "Talk if you can" show. But were truly surprised when he actually signed up for the date with this famous model.

Private download if selected.

[wildflowerluver]

petals of a flower

emily prentiss x fem!reader

5 times the team suspects emily has a girlfriend and the 1 time it gets confirmed

cw: fem!reader, she/her pronouns, reader is referred to as girlfriend, homophobia, case details involving homosexual couples, slight injuries

wc: 3.4k

༺♡༻

emily prentiss is a mystery when she first joins the team.

garcia digs up the standard: parents, place of birth, etc. but the team doesn’t really know her.

they learn a lot about her as she settles into her position over the months. her high school emo phase had been a highlight. 

but there was one part of emily’s life the team still didn’t know about. 

her sexuality.

it’s not that emily’s ashamed, not in the slightest. she’s just nervous about the response. the bau team is her family and she doesn’t want to lose that. 

any girls night or dinner with the team where partners get brought up, emily does everything in her power to change the topic. she’s simply not ready. she’s not ready to tell them about you. 

you’re emily’s favorite person. the best girlfriend she could ask for. 

she just isn’t ready for her two worlds to collide.

1. flowers

a bouquet of flowers sits on emily’s desk when the agent arrives for work. they’re white lilies, wrapped delicately in brown paper and secured with a thin piece of string. a card is tucked in the top.

“uh oh,” derek muses from his own space. “someone has a secret admirer!”

not secret to her. they’re the ones who don’t know about the sender.

emily stands in front of the bouquet, hiding the card under a folder on her desk. if anyone saw the note, they would demand for her to read it outloud. 

“you know white lilies in particular are a popular funeral flower,” spencer jumps in with a fact.

“come on, pretty boy. it’s a romantic gesture. no need to drag down the mood.”

“actually morgan they’re used in weddings too. mainly christian ones but still they’re-”

“reid!”

the sound of derek and spencer’s arguing is drowned out as emily brought the flowers up to her nose. 

soft and sweet. 

she didn’t even need to read the card to know who they were from. 

you had first pointed out white lilies when on your first date with emily. 

it was when you were walking downtown after dinner. vendors had set up outside in the shopping district including one of the floral shops.

emily had stopped you in front of the bins of flowers. “which ones are your favorite?”

you didn’t have to think for very long. “white lilies,” you answered honestly. “they represent rebirth and purity.”

she hummed a noise of content beside you.

you reached into your bag to pull out your wallet, quickly grabbing the right amount of cash and handing it to the florist who sat outside. 

“to new beginnings,” you beamed, offering the pre-wrapped flowers to emily. her cheeks turned a rosy pink, a stark contrast to the white petals. 

she kissed you for the first time that night. 

ever since then, white lilies have become your mutual flower. 

“any idea who they’re from?”

that’s j.j. who asks after walking over to her with a stack of papers. 

“no idea.”

emily hides her smile in the petals. 

2. minimal loss

there’s a small group waiting in the quantico parking lot.

it’s late. the lights only illuminate a small section of the space. 

you’ve never picked up emily from work after cases. you hadn’t even been near quantico before today. but, this case was different.

emily let you know in advance she was going undercover. it wasn’t supposed to be for long, just enough time for her and her coworker reid to investigate an underground cult in colorado. 

it was hard to avoid the details of the case when every news station in the country was reporting on it.

you were cleaning around your apartment and had the news on as background, mostly to just hear the weather report. it had switched to live footage from colorado. your stomach dropped when you remembered that’s where emily was. 

“this is a special report from la plata county, colorado.

we're reminded of jim mckay's words from munich– our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realized.

let's hope it's not the latter as we wait to hear the fate of the women, children, and f.b.i.agents inside the building.”

an explosion.

you covered your mouth, stomach churning at the site. emily was inside. oh my god, emily.

you sent a long string of texts; hoping, begging, praying that she was alive. 

when your fun buzzes hours later, you race to see what the message is. it’s from emily. she was okay, a little shaken up but okay. 

tears well in your eyes. you knew her job was dangerous but this was the closest you had ever gotten to losing her. you offered to pick her up when she landed and she agreed without hesitation. 

there were a few other cars in the lot when you arrived.

they had parked relatively close to each other. you stayed a ways away. you didn’t know these people and without talking to emily, you didn’t want to introduce yourself. 

they looked familiar but you didn’t quite recognize them. there was a blonde woman and a young boy, another blonde woman with bright accessories, and then a man. who on emily’s team had a kid?

you sat on top of the hood of your car, picking at the skin around your nails as you waited. 

it didn’t take long, nor was it difficult to spot the team when they arrived; two black suv’s pulled in one after the other. 

you slid down the hood to stand up straight. you need to see her, make sure she was okay.

the team offloaded at once, each member getting out of the vehicle and distributing their luggage. 

all eyes went to emily as she stumbled out of the car and hastily grabbed her bags. she had gotten hurt on this case, it was no secret everyone wanted to check up on her. she didn’t say anything before she headed in the direction of the car that was parked slightly away from the rest.

they couldn’t exactly make out the features of the person standing beside it but the way emily walked told them they were someone important. 

you surged towards her when she was close enough, taking her face in your hands.

“oh em,” you breathed out, voice wavering with tears.

“i’m okay,” she promised, thumb wiping away the tears that fell.

emily pulled you into her, hand cradling your head as you cried. she knew this was a lot more scary for you than it was for her. 

though the team had dispersed to greet their respected family members, no one failed to see the scene unfolding in the distance.

you hugged each other like you would never be able to again. 

they all knew that emotion like that wasn’t platonic. 

3. ring

a long weekend typically warrants news from some bau member.

whether it’s about a goal jack scored in soccer or a new house derek had renovated, people always seemed to have something going on.

emily sat at her desk and she scribbled away at files. one hand gripped the pen while the other sat on her knee. she twisted a band that sat on her left ring finger. it wasn’t an engagement ring but she liked wearing it on the one finger that connected to her heart. 

atop the small gold band sat a gemstone, the one to match the month of your birth.

you had gotten the ring when on a trip. a shop you visited had sold them and you picked out one as a gift. as cliche as it was, you thought of it as a promise ring. 

despite emily not being a huge jewelry person, she wore it every day. 

the bullpen was a comfortable quiet. other members of the team sat at either their desks or in their office and worked away. the silence made it easy to focus. 

a sharp gasp sounded behind her.

penelope had entered the bullpen, presumably to say hi under the false assumption she needed another cup of coffee. both of her hands had covered her mouth, effectively covering her shocked expression. “what is that!”

emily quirked her eyebrow at what the tech analyst was talking about. she was just at her same old desk doing the same old paperwork. she finally saw penelope’s line of vision and followed it down to her hand. 

oh. it did kinda look like an engagement ring. 

it wouldn’t be the most surprising thing in the world for someone to come back engaged after a long weekend, even if no one had been aware of their relationship. 

emily barely had any time to answer before derek was circling his desk to find the source of the commotion.

“what’s all the yelling for?”

“emily has a ring. she has a ring, derek!”

derek’s eyes too fell on her hand. “woah princess! you’re getting hitched and didn’t tell us?”

“who’s getting married?”

the entire team, minus hotch and rossi who remained behind closed doors, had circled emily. 

“you didn’t tell us you were dating someone!”

emily held her hands up to silence the group. “guys, guys. it’s not an engagement ring.”

a collective sigh echoed.

“it’s just a ring with my birthstone in it. my parents got it for me when i was younger and i found it when cleaning over the weekend.” emily doesn’t feel guilty for lying. it was a simple white lie, not something detrimental. 

the explanation seems to suffice the group who then begins to disperse. 

spencer is the only one who picks up that emily’s birthstone is an opal.

and an opal is not the gem on the ring.

4. home

nobody thinks much of it when emily neglects a saturday hang out in favor of having some personal work to get done.

derek, penelope, and j.j. all get together instead.

the girls drag derek around to a few shops they want to go to before penelope stops at a window with a gasp. “oh my god, look! that mug looks exactly like the one emily broke. we have to get it.”

there was no stopping the tech analyst who had a killer memory. it wasn’t false. emily had smashed her favorite mug earlier in the week accidentally and moped for days.

“we should surprise her! she said she had some personal stuff to do so she’s definitely home.”

derek shrugs. “i don’t know, baby girl. she probably doesn’t want to be bothered.”

j.j. digs around in her purse before pulling out a folder. “i did have to drop off her medical forms for her to sign.”

“you two have no boundaries.”

penelope is the one to knock on emily’s apartment door. she’s practically bursting with excitement. she loves her team and knowing how upset emily was over the mug, she can’t wait to give it. 

you’re sitting on emily’s couch when there’s a knock at the door.

the two of you haven’t officially moved in together yet, though more times than none you’re at hers. the lease on your own apartment isn’t up yet though once it is, you and her will finally be living together.

saturdays where emily is home are semi-rare. cases often stretch into weekends. she’s thankfully home today, though a few chores around the home dominated her to-do list. she worked upstairs while you relaxed on the couch. 

you were slightly confused as to who would be at the door. 

“can you get the door, baby?” emily called from upstairs. 

“got it!”

you trudged towards the entrance, sliding the peephole cover to the side to peer out. three people stood outside, two women and one man. they looked familiar. you had definitely seen them before. 

the picture emily kept of her team on the wall flashed in your memory. that and the time where you had picked her up at quantico. oh, they were members of her team. 

you finally opened the door. it was slightly amusing to see the three agents' faces twist in confusion when it was in fact not emily answering the door. 

“can i help you?” 

none of the three speak for a few moments. they’re clearly trying to rack their brain as you looked familiar to them too. 

“oh, um, yes!” the woman with colorful accessories stutters out. “is emily here?”

you open the door a little wider, motioning with your head for them to come in. once the door is closed, you leave them in the entranceway and head in a bit further.

“em!” you call up the stairs. “people are here for you!”

there’s a distance thud. “coming!”

you figure whatever they need to talk about is none of your business. when emily comes downstairs, you smile softly at her. “i’ll leave you all alone. i’ll be upstairs.”

you squeeze her shoulder when you walk by and within a minute, you’re out of sight.

“not to sound rude but why are you guys here? is the team okay?”

derek nods his head. “everything’s good, princess. though i have to ask, who was that?”

emily doesn’t have an excuse. referring to you as ‘just a friend’ feels wrong. plus, she hasn’t discussed if you’re ready for her team to know either. she then notices the package in penelope’s hand.

“what’s that?”

the original question gets blocked out by penelope’s squeal and presentation of the gift. 

derek and j.j. share a look. penelope’s not a profiler, she doesn’t pick up on some things, but emily’s deflection tells the agents all they need to know. 

they stay quiet, though both of their hearts soar.

no wonder emily has seemed so happy. 

5. case

emily’s not one to let her emotions impact a case.

she has a routine to prepare herself: kiss you goodbye, tell you she loves you, go to quantico, read the case, familiarize the victims, solve the case. all in that order.

this one throws her off. 

lgbtq couples murdered in their cars, all wearing formal clothing presumably from their date. 

emily’s mind immediately goes to you and her. though this case is states away, the unsub doesn’t have a much different mindset than a lot of people. 

she internalizes it as best she can, wanting to perform at her best to help solve this case before more people die. it works at first. emily’s able to go to the crime scene, distinguish evidence, and build a profile with ease. that is until two more bodies are discovered.

and one of them looks like you. 

j.j. pins the pictures on the board and emily’s stomach drops. she knows it’s not you. you’re miles away and you had just texted her a few minutes ago with a picture of the coffee you had gotten. but the internalized fear is very much present.

theories bounce around the room. why were these two targeted? sexuality aside, what about them was attractive to the unsub?

emily’s throat goes dry. she can’t do this anymore. 

“hotch, can i talk to you?”

the room goes quiet. hotch’s eyes flicker back and forth from rossi to j.j. before going back to emily. “of course.”

emily doesn’t stop at an empty conference room. there’s plenty in the precinct and yet they end up outside. emily sits on one of the steps and begins to toy with the ring on her finger.

hotch takes a seat beside her. 

“hotch i need to be pulled from this case.”

emily’s surprised she’s able to say the full sentence without breaking down. 

“okay,” he begins slowly. “can i ask why?”

internally, hotch knows. he picked up on emily’s behavioral change from the second the case got presented. 

“hotch, i-” the words seem to get lost on the tip of her tongue.

she shoves her palms into her eyes. she's flustered, embarrassed, scared.

she should be able to do her job. cases don’t usually get to her. it’s difficult to not feel helpless. 

a hand moves to rest on her shoulder.

“it’s okay you know.”

he doesn’t need to finish. what he’s implying is obvious.

the tears brimming in emily’s eyes spill over hot and fast. 

hotch moves closer to her, arm circling around her. all superiority dynamics have faded. it’s friend to friend, a moment of vulnerability. 

emily’s felt more accepted from his four words than she has in years.

+1 meeting

emily always goes into work before you.

between her commute with traffic and desire to get there a bit early, she’s up and running before you even get out of bed. 

naturally, you like to help her out as much as possible.

it comes in the form of packing lunch, organizing files, packing her bag (both personal and one for cases).

this morning was a complete blur. you had worked late the previous night and slept in before work. emily got ready around you, shaking you awake a few moments before she was set to leave.

when emily departed and you made your way downstairs, you noticed what she had forgotten. a brown folder stamped with the fbi logo sat next to an empty lunch bag. you frowned. file aside, you didn’t want her skipping lunch.

you took your phone out and sent her a text.

‘hi baby. you forgot a file and your lunch. can i stop by with them?’

she responds while you’re in the middle of getting dressed for the day. 

‘any chance you can bring them at noon-ish? we have meetings all morning but a break for lunch.’

you beam. seeing your girlfriend at her workplace is new. sure you’d seen pictures of the bullpen, mostly when emily showed you her desk whenever you gave her a new trinket to add, but you had never been there.

instead of packing a meal, you stopped downtown at one of emily’s favorite restaurants for take-out. a little surprise.

quantico is intimidating, even from the signage you see on the drive over. 

you park in the visitors lot and follow the instructions emily had given you on where to go. security was mandatory and a visitors pass was needed to access the floor. 

once exiting the elevator, you stood nervously. emily was at her desk, though so were her coworkers. you look out of place; reusable bag and folder in your hands and casual clothing adorning your body.

she finally looked up and out the glass door, smile enveloping her face as she raised her hand to motion for you to come in. the agents sitting at their desks naturally gravitate towards the commotion. all of them recognized you. 

the opal necklace the notice sitting around your neck suddenly makes sense. 

“any chance you can get them to stop staring?” you ask once emily stops in front of you.

“hi baby,” she muses, disregarding the question with amusement. “sorry to make you trek all the way out here.”

her hand finds its way to the small of your back, guiding you over to her desk. she lets you have the chair while she sits on the surface. you fight the urge to roll your chair forward and rest your head on her leg. “don’t worry about it. i brought you takeout from that thai place we like.”

emily beams. 

“you’re too good to me.”

“you deserve it.”

you stop taking the containers out of the bag and peer up at her. 

emily’s hand moves to rest on your cheek before she ducks down to kiss you gently. 

it’s revealing. you both know everyone in the room witnessed the act of public affection. “i love you.”

“i love you, too.”

when the team finally confronts emily, she has no problem boasting. 

“this is y/n,” emily introduces. she glances at you to which you tilt your head, lips upturned. the next two words come a moment later. “my girlfriend.”

like white lilies, this was a new beginning. one where she could be more than open about her lover. 

maybe the team's suspicion had been right, maybe some of it had been wrong. that didn’t matter now. all emily cared about could be open about your relationship. 

rebirth and purity. 

[spelllingandthemysteryschool]

please GOD HELP ME. do you have any love poetry either single poems or book reccs im going THROUGH IT orz (<me curling up on the floor)

i’m picking you up off the floor and pressing this list of assorted love poems into your hand like a folded note. i hope you like them! 💌

to you and morning by frank o’hara

poem for my love by june jordan... honestly all of haruko/love poems (1994) is very good!

love (iii) by george herbert

on the reproduction of images by miriam alex

december by michael miller

o small sad ecstasy of love by anne carson

serenade by dilruba ahmed

amores (II) by ee cummings (the entire amores series, I through XI, are all so worth reading but this is my favorite of the bunch!)

my house by nikki giovanni

little crazy love song by mary oliver

romance by claude mckay

to revolt is to insist on joy by nur turkmani

there is only one of everything by margaret atwood (located on page 15 of this compilation!)

asking about you by eloise klein healy

love song by william carlos williams

poems for blok, 1 and where does such tenderness come from? / whence cometh such tender rapture? (< these are two different translations of the same poem and they are both striking lovely in their own way) by marina tsvetaeva

encounter in april by may sarton

we have not long to love by tennessee williams

laura, i want you pulling your hair back by natalie dunn

adore by li-young lee

you by carol ann duffy

after touching you, i think of narcissus drowning by leila chatti

summer was forever by chen chen

untitled by izzy wellwaterhysteria

and here is the new penguin book of love poetry (2003), borrowable via the internet archive!

[saintsenara]

All of your ship asks have made me think about why Snape has such potential as the fandom bicycle, and it made me realize that he’s one of the few characters who is important in all aspects of the story and has plausible interactions with basically anyone who wasn’t dead before the 70s. He’s at school during the marauders era then is back as a teacher 3-4 years later, which covers everyone who was at Hogwarts from 1970-1998. He was a deatheater in both wars, and also a member of the order of the phoenix. He had some sort of investigation/trial after the first war that gives him potential interactions with people at the ministry.

And he has such different power and relationship dynamics with people in all of the groups, which makes him really interesting to explore with different characters (I think Dumbledore’s the only character with more reach, but since he met almost all of the other characters as students it changes the vibe a bit). Truly the linchpin that holds the story together

Anyway all this to ask, any Snape pairing s you’re interested in the you haven’t gotten an ask for? (If not, Snape/The Bloody Baron. Just two men sitting in the dungeon five feet apart bc they’re drowning in their own guilt and self-loathing)

this is very true, anon - although snape also has great value as the fandom bicycle because he's a feral cat of a man with sad eyes and a cunty demeanour. which sends both those of us inclined towards an "i can fix him" mentality and those of us inclined towards an "i can make him worse" one into a frenzy.

severus snape/the bloody baron is a pairing i am actually completely convinced of - largely on account of this excellent fic:

which - as you say - really leans into the fun of pairing two self-loathing legends together. with unexpectedly lovely results.

[dr-futbol-blog]

Sanctuary, Pt. 14

While Sheppard's picnic with Chaya is interesting in and of itself, it becomes really significant in a later context.

In The Shrine (S05E06) we learn that Rodney McKay doesn't really know what dating is. He has referred to girls he's dated a few times previously but his idea of what dating is and other people's idea of what dating is are not necessarily the same. We first see this with him and Katie Brown, as it seems like they don't really spend that much time together (and never even got to second base, far as we're told) but he still goes around telling people that they are dating because she's a beard. There's also the girl McKay claims to have dated (twice!, as in, two dates) in college and Sheppard says he stalked, the truth probably being somewhere in between. But it's made explicit in relation to Keller.

Keller starts falling for McKay when he's suffering from brain damage that alters his personality (which is disturbing in and of itself, but we'll circle back to that), preferring the "kinder, gentler Rodney McKay" that is the result of a parasite eating away at his brain. While he's in the hospital under her care, they have the following exchange:

Keller: Eating from the patient's tray is kind of frowned upon. McKay: Jennifer, we've practically dated. Keller: You bought me one drink. That's hardly "dating."

Rodney McKay thinks that buying someone one drink is dating. We also know from Trio (S04E16) that this drink was a beer (and that this happened a while ago). At the end of the episode, they have the following exchange:

Keller: You owe me a beer from the bar trick thing earlier. You couldn't figure it out, so… McKay: Well, there was no time! I would have figured it out! Keller: Yeah, well, eventually chimps would have been able to figure it out, but the thing is, you didn't, so I win, and you owe me a beer. McKay: I don't remember ever agreeing to the beer! Keller: McKay. McKay: What? Keller: D'you wanna have a drink with me or not? McKay: What – you wanna have a drink? Keller: You're not very good at this, are you? McKay: Uh, no. No, I'm not.

He's really, really not.

So, one beer = date.

Never mind that we've seen Sheppard offer to buy McKay a beer earlier in Quarantine (S0413):

Sheppard: Well, I'll... I'll buy you a beer later. We can celebrate. McKay: Yeah – or drown my sorrows should she say no. Sheppard: No, no, none of that. McKay: Right. Sheppard: Well, go get the girl!

At the end of the episode, McKay himself decides not to propose to her and they break up. He had sorrows to drown. Sheppard offered to buy him a beer. So far, Sheppard and Keller are one for one.

But then, in the very same episode as where McKay's idea of one drink equaling a date is laid out, we get this:

Sheppard: All right, look. It's a nice night out. Let's go have some beer on the pier, okay? McKay: I drink beer? Sheppard: A lot. Take this [six-pack of beer]. Come on, buddy. Let's go.

McKay, afraid that he is losing his mind, has waken up in the middle of the night to not find Sheppard with him where he was sleeping. Even though he is losing his memories to the point of not remembering the meaning of words, his feet have carried him to Sheppard's quarters through the corridors and hallways. Sheppard asks him out for a beer. He tells us that Rodney has had lots of beers with him.

Once outside on the pier, McKay has finished his beer and Sheppard offers him another.

McKay: I don't know. Should I have another? Sheppard: What could happen?

McKay takes the second beer. Again, in an episode in which we were explicitly told that to McKay one beer = date, where we're told that he's had one drink with Keller, he has two beers with Sheppard. Outside on the pier at night, wearing Sheppard's jacket. Outside on the pier at night like Sheppard and Chaya. So, according to his own definition, McKay was out on a date. But Sheppard was also out on a date, he explicitly calls it a "romantic situation" the first time. It is both of their idea of a date.

We are invited to make this connection. In this episode, Sheppard and Chaya have the following exchange:

Chaya: You said it yourself—we're both human. Sheppard: Yes. We are. And I'm really glad you didn't say "family," otherwise I'd have to leave. Chaya: Don't. Sheppard: I'm not going anywhere.

They are both lying. She is not human and he never had any intention of staying with her. He's saying it to her because it's something he himself longs to hear. More than anything he yearns for a friend that is with you always, a friend that never leaves your side. So he tells her this, because it's the one thing that would make him want to do anything for the person who said that. And while he's influenced by Chaya, there's something they desperately need from her. He's going all out on trying to get that sanctuary for his people.

And in The Shrine, he and Rodney have the following exchange:

McKay: John… John, I've never been so scared. I'm slipping away. I'm slipping away, and I don't know how to stop myself! Sheppard: Look, you're still here. All right? You're still here. McKay: Yeah. I am. Sheppard: And… I'm not going anywhere.

This is why this episode is so important. It gives context to this seminal scene in The Shrine (and 'shrine' is synonymous with 'sanctuary', they rhyme). We are not only told that Jennifer Keller pales in comparison to John Sheppard when it comes to loving (and yes, even dating) Rodney McKay, we are shown that what Sheppard was first pretending to be for Chaya, doing his damnedest to charm the socks off of her to protect his people and then did under some form of mind-control, he is genuinely this for Rodney. Rodney is stuck with him. He's not going anywhere.

And again, this is the thing that John Sheppard himself most desperately wants to hear. He wants someone to tell him this (McKay is more of a show don't tell acts of service kind of a person, but he'll get there eventually; Sheppard has to travel 40,000 years into the future to understand what Rodney has been trying to show him all along; he's not going anywhere). Losing McKay is literally Sheppard's worst nightmare, we see it multiple times over the seasons so here he tells McKay the most comforting thing he knows because he is just as scared as the other man is of him slipping away--if not more so.

We can also compare the way Sheppard acts in these scenes. When Chaya mentions loneliness, Sheppard nopes out of the situation immediately. He stands up, puts distance between them, refuses to even think about the concept let alone discuss it. Here, McKay is dying. While he's trying to be supportive, Sheppard knows this. He's leaving permanently. But regardless of this being his literal worst nightmare, Sheppard stays put. He stays there with McKay and tries to have the difficult conversation about good-byes. It's not easy for him but he does the work. If anything, by the end of the scene, they are even closer--both physically and emotionally.

However, while for Sheppard it's important to hear that someone is there for him through thick and thin, for McKay the thing he most desperately wants to hear--or better yet, be demonstrated--is that he's accepted for all that he is without him having to do things to earn this acceptance. That it's freely given and it includes him at his absolute worst. And while it's not something Sheppard has consciously figured out about him, he just does. McKay doesn't get it here, lamenting that he can't be his genius friend anymore. Sheppard accepts him when he's the smartest man in two galaxies and he accepts him when he does shit so dumb that his niece would feel ashamed to know him. He accepts him when he's kind and gentle and funny but he also accepts him when he's arrogant, abrasive, petty and jealous. Because all of that is McKay. All of that is the person he loves. And that's something that can only be demonstrated consistently over time.

But the point is, both McKay and Sheppard thought they were on a date on the pier. It is both of their idea of a romantic situation. And their date, the raw and honest human connection between them, is so much more important and significant than what they shared with these women. Their whole purpose is to exist as foils meant to make us recognize the real thing.

We don't get see Sheppard and McKay kiss on the pier, the scene fading out as Sheppard leans back real close to McKay. He does kiss Chaya. It's possible they would have wound up there even if she didn't have him under some sort of influence. She's attractive and he feels responsible for the lives of untold thousands, maybe millions of people that he thinks she has in her power to save. And yes, even if he wasn't under some form of mind-control, the kiss would still have been meant but to game her. Like Leeloo, the perfect being of The Fifth Element, Sheppard had hoped that if he could only come up with a reason for her to want to save mankind, they could all be saved.

It's not only the fact that Chaya is perfectly beautiful with perfect tissues that connects her to Leeloo. It's also later the fact that after she's done going through Weir's historical database, she's particularly disturbed by human propensity for war.

Chaya: But I've also been reading about your history. Even now, somewhere on your planet, you are at war. Sheppard: Well, yeah, that's true. Weir: I made no attempt to hide that fact from you. Chaya, we are definitely not perfect. Chaya: There's a lot about you as a people that I find disturbing. Teyla: Can that not be said of any people? Chaya: No. Every soul in Proculus is free from the hatred and the anger the people from Earth seem to feel for each other.

Earlier, she called Sheppard a warrior. He is a soldier that has participated in war. He's fighting a war right now. If we're later shown what the real thing looks like for John Sheppard, it appears that despite her attraction, Sheppard is also much too human for her to ever truly love. They are a different species, after all.

She dislikes war and conflict, and she's about to get a display of just how human John Sheppard is.

Continued in Pt. 15

[helloliriels]

HELLO POETRY MASTERLIST

BBC Sherlock/Johnlock poetry by @helloliriels

📃 One Thousand and One (Words on the Tip of My Tongue) :: John is processing his grief after the Fall ...

☕ Starstruck :: It seems John has replaced Sherlock's knowledge of the Solar System ...

📃 I Fight the Need :: each time you leave, i bite back 'stay' ...

☕ Moving On :: The Empty Hearse Heart

📃 The Cranberry Jumper on John Hamish Watson :: a jumper so fine!

☕ I'm Drowning (And I Thought You Knew) :: The Lying Blogger ...

📃 RED :: it's an ink that will stain everywhere i wrote your name: on my heart, in my head, on the blog i wrote instead ...

☕ A Million Things You Don't Do :: Sherlock is fed up with the things John Watson doesn't do ...

📃 Empty Hearse :: They say you were a picture of agony; When they pulled you from my side ... [🎧]

☕ Undo Me :: this might be Sherlock's undoing ...

📃 The Next Time We Say Goodbye :: John is tired of being left ...

☕ He Smiles :: a haiku series following @7-percent 's fic Exposition - An Ex-Files Special chapter-by-chapter as I read ...

📃 Welcome to London :: There is a detective out there somewhere ... [🎧]

☕ Coffee, and then Coffee :: and still here i sip tea ... [🎧podfic available ]

📃 ... But I Can't Have Him :: and more the fool, me ...

☕ I Want to Love Him in the Sunlight :: a poetry re-mix of Clueda's Juxtaposition Ch. 42 ...

📃 Boxing Day :: John & Rosie accept Sherlock's invitation ...

☕ But I Can't :: a sherlocked re-write of W.H. Auden's poem ...

📃 You Speak and World's Awaken :: John in awe of how many ways Sherlock says his name ...

☕ Without a Clue :: I thought I knew what made them tick ...

📃 Somebody's Someone :: reconsidering 'Married to his work' ...

☕ 2-B-1 :: One heart, one mind, the perfect pair ...

📃 Third is Last Place :: So when it came (my time or yours?); (One life) (I had to choose...); I hope you know (he needs you more); That I would always lose ...

☕ This Ending :: It is what it is (and what it is is shit).

📃 Endgame :: In this game of one and two ... There is no room for three ...

☕ Your Orbit :: John will always be drawn to Sherlock ...

📃 Invisible Man :: a sherlocked re-write Claude McKay's poem ... [🎧]

☕ We'll Go No More A-Sleuthing :: a sherlocked re-write of William Ernest Henley's poem ...

📃 Distractions :: Sherlock needs to solve this case, tonight preferably ...

☕ Sherlock is LIT :: a series of blackout poems made from pages of classic lit (a.k.a. finding Sherlock between the lines). I'm especially proud of THE FALL: taken from a page in Alice in Wonderland ... can you guess which? 😏

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

The HELLO POETRY collection on AO3 [🎧if podfic avail.]

[twotales]

Jump

Chapter One: Lifeline

Read on AO3

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis

Characters: Radek Zelenka, Rodney McKay, John Sheppard, Ronon Dex, Teyla Emmagan, Chuck, Evan Lorne, Laura Cadman, Sam Carter, Bill Lee, More to add

Rating: T

Word Count: 1612

Tags: AU - Canon Divergence, Episode Rewrite

Note: I've labeled locations because of what happens in the actual episode. I may drop it after this chapter.

Summary:

Rodney swallowed thickly. They were dead in the water here. But this plan- Maybe it was too drastic. Too crazy.

No.

He steeled his resolve. This was their only viable option. "That-” Rodney pointed at the screen, “that would be the Replicator homeworld.”

Rodney turned toward them as hope bloomed over his face.

“You feel up to a heist?”

Location: Atlantis Gate Room

Oh. Of course. Rodney grinned inwardly as he snapped his fingers and turned toward John and Radek. “Experimental jumper." He looked between them. "Remember when I was zapped by that machine a few months ago, and I got, uh-” he flashed a smirk, “well, even smarter than I normally am?”

The corner of John’s mouth twitched up, “The one that almost killed you?” he shifted, “Yeah.”

Rodney waved his hand. “Well, before I was reset, I was very close to giving one of our puddle jumpers a hyperdrive.”

“Can you finish it?”

“Yeah!” He gulped and looked off to the side. “Yes, I probably can.”

John nodded. “All right, great. We-we'll make a jump to the Apollo. Tell them where we are.”

Rodney wagged a finger, “No.”

John’s face morphed in confusion. “Why no?”

“The jumper's hyperdrive would be limited,” Radek said. He shook his head and looked apologetic. “We wouldn't be able to jump that far.”

“How far then?” John said.

Rodney glanced at Radek a million thoughts flashing between them.

“What do you think,” Radek squinted, “like, two?”

Rodney rubbed his fingers together, “Yeah,” he leaned his head side to side, “two and change, maybe?”

Radek started typing on his computer, “Conservatively, maybe two thousand light years.” He sighed and pressed a few buttons, “This is a list of addresses that are within range.” Radek stood as the screen zoomed in on a map of planets with Stargates.

John nodded, “All right, we'll make a bunch of trips and ferry the crew to one of the planets.”

Rodney pointed a finger at him. “Again, no.”

“Why not?”

Rodney shifted around, “Well, the drive's never been tested.”

Radek nodded sadly. “Yeah, we'd be lucky if we get two jumps.” His lips compressed into a line.

“Well, we'll make a return trip somewhere,” John said.

Rodney stared at the map as an insane idea formed. “Yeah, ideally, somewhere with a few ZPMs to spare.” He waved his hand, “We come back, we get Atlantis fully powered.”

“Yeah," John made a face, "that'd be great.”

Rodney stared at Radek. Knowing the second the man picked up on his plan.

“M7R-227.” Radek said lowly.

John glanced between them, “What's that?”

Radek looked uncomfortable. “Well-”

John’s eyes locked onto Rodney. “There's a planet out there with ZPMs?”

The excitement drowned out his fear. “Yeah…yeah, we know they have a few ZPMs.”

John looked skeptical. “And who would that be?”

Rodney swallowed thickly. They were dead in the water here. But this plan- Maybe it was too drastic. Too crazy.

No.

He steeled his resolve. This was their only viable option. "That-” Rodney pointed at the screen, “that would be the Replicator homeworld.”

Rodney turned toward them as hope bloomed over his face.

“You feel up to a heist?”

-

Location: M74-277 | Jumper | ZPM

“Aren't they going to notice when we pull the plug on this thing?” John said over the radio.

Rodney gulped. “Probably, but they've got dozens of ZPMs. Let's just hope that they don't-” his heart seized as he waved his hand, “notice until we're long gone.”

“That's wishful thinking,” John said. Rodney grimaced at the words. “We still in the clear?” He added.

Elizabeth leaned forward. “There's a small group of Replicators two corridors over, heading your way, so you need to move quickly,”

Rodney looked over the data on the screen. His eyes widened. Oh wow, that would be-

“We're on our way."

“ Wait,” Rodney said, "Just wait.”

“What?”

“There is a side panel on your right. Open it.”

“Rodney, we don’t really have the time for-”

“Just trust me on this one.” Rodney snapped. Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, the look enough to chastise him.

“Woah,” John said.

Rodney perked up. "What?”

“I think you’re going to like this.”

What was probably minutes felt like eons as they waited for John and Ronon to come back. Relief rushed through him as they stepped into sight. Confusion flashed as John dropped three cases in front of him and Elizabeth. “Hook up the ZPM. We're leaving.”

Rodney opened one and inhaled sharply. His mouth fluttered. They had ripped out the foam, nothing to protect them in the case, and normally he would be losing his damn mind about it if it weren't for the treasure filling it.

He looked up at John. “Really?” He breathed.

John flashed a cocky grin. “Happy Birthday Rodney.”

-

Location: M74-277 | Jumper | Escape

John tilted his head back at Rodney from the pilot seat. "How's hyperspace looking?"

Rodney stood back up, knees creaking. "Not good. Look, harnessing power from the ZPM is tricky." He waved his hand in the air, " If I'm off even just the slightest amount, then we could all—"

"Two ships headed our way," John cut in as two Aurora battle cruisers appeared.

Rodney grabbed the cables above as the jumper rocked from a blast. Fuck. There was no way he could finish in time.

“Rodney?!" John called.

"Look, I need more time!" Rodney held tight to the ZPM as more explosions rocked the jumper.

"We just lost weapons!" John shot back.

Rodney wiped the sweat off his forehead. “Dammit,” he typed furiously on his datapad.

“Come on, McKay!” Ronon barked.

Rodney’s eyes snapped up. “This is not simple, you know!" His hand cut in the air, "If I don't properly calibrate the power output, we could incinerate the moment the hyperspace window opens!” Rodney clenched his teeth in irritation.

“I'm picking up something dead ahead,” John said squinting his eyes.

Rodney froze at the sight of a jumper uncloaking directly in front of them.

“Oh, crap," John said and looked back at Rodney. "They're powering up weapons!”

John started adjusting the settings on the console as Rodney typed faster. His eyes flashed around before he jammed a crystal into the ship. He inhaled sharply as he watched the results running over his datapad. “I did it, it’s done.” Rodney stood up his hands in the air, “go go go.”

John immediately opened a hyperspace window and rushed them through.

-

Location: Atlantis Jumper Bay

Rodney grabbed one of the cases and hurried out of the Jumper the second they landed.

Radek hobbled up to him, waving his datapad. “There is an anomaly near the west pier, power was being sent directly there, and we couldn't stop it.

“What!?” Rodney grabbed Radek’s datapad.

Radek pointed at the dot, “We won’t have enough power.”

"Power?" Rodney flashed a lopsided grin, pushed the datapad back to Radek, and opened up the case. “Oh, we'll have enough power and then some after we install these babies.” A collective gasp spread as Rodney pulled multiple ZPMs out of it.

"I know, I know," Rodney twirled his unoccupied hand. "Amazing, wonderful, thank fucking god, yes." He thrust one into Chuck's hands and snapped his fingers, "Now, come on people, we have two aurora class ships headed our way, no time for a celebration, let's go!”

Everyone scrambled as Rodney passed them out, rushing to install them. He handed one to Radek, understanding the excitement plastered to his face despite the situation. They had spent years searching for these, fought for them, lost good people for them, and now they were stocked full.

Hope spread through him. They would have all the power they needed soon. He sighed. Now, they just had to finish before the replicators came.

Great.

-

Location: Atlantis

Radek groaned as the output remained the same. He threw a wrench and stood, moving his leg slowly.

The anomaly.

He pulled out his datapad and studied the blueprints of Atlantis as he headed back to the gate room. He had hoped he was wrong. That the anomaly had not affected this area. He had already come up with a contingency, but the idea was risky. He tilted his head. Although, he supposed it was less risky than stealing from the replicators.

Rodney was already barking orders and kicking a tech off his computer as he arrived in the gate room. “The conduits are all fried.”

Radek sat down near the man, hissing as pain shot through his leg.

Teyla arched a brow, “But we do have power.”

Rodney sighed heavily, “It doesn’t matter if the power can’t get to the engine.”

“The anomaly in section E12,” Radek reminded, “it was draining Atlantis and disrupting key areas.” He held his palm up, “It's why the power isn’t getting to the hyperdrive.”

“Dammit,” Rodney tightened his fists, “compatible parts are scarce.”

Radek looked back down at the blueprints. “Rodney,” he held up his datapad and pointed, “what do you think of this?”

Rodney’s eyes widened. He nodded as his gaze locked onto Radek's. “We would have to-”

Radek nodded back, “I already have a team of techs ready to dismantle-

“Good, then we need to work-”

“On the algorithms for power convergence, yes, yes”.

Rodney tilted his head. “Then we’ll need to divert the hyperspace power conduits to that section of the ship.” He pointed at a few techs. and scientists. “Cannabalize the crystals in non-essential areas.” He frowned, “we may need to use parts from the sublight engines." He snapped his fingers, "Get a group set up and ready to go just in case." Those techs nodded and rushed away.

“And the anomaly?” Radek asked.

“The anomaly is at-” Rodney looked at the screen, “point two percent as opposed to the sixty-two it extruded an hour ago. It's minimal compared to the replicators on our tail. Let's deal with it later.”

Rodney looked at Chuck, "Watch the anomaly and keep me updated."

Chuck nodded as Rodney and Radek split up, the rest of the room bursting into action.

[trainofcommand]

Rolling stock (ficlet, T)

Summary: Short comment fic in response to @logicgunn's statement that life will not be complete "until someone writes a ficlet where Lorne kneels like a badass on the top of a moving train and shoots down Wraith darts with an AT-4," (thank you for the prompt!) with a couple of small details for @twotales

"That is," Evan pauses, and chooses his words carefully, "a terrible plan."

McKay snorts. "What, you'd rather we approach the hive on foot, quietly and carefully, enter it, and set the charges by hand?"

Well yes. He would. Or get a 'jumper or two and drop something from above, despite McKay's dismissals about 'inadequate yields' and 'not enough time to do it properly'.

But driving a slow, half-functional train full of explosives into the side of a downed not disabled Wraith ship – that conveniently landed on the remains of an abandoned rail track? It's like advertising a collective death wish.

So it's nothing new, really. Just a different approach.

They wait while McKay gets the train working again, and Evan knows – he just knows – that this is going to be a clusterfuck.

"Nah, it'll be fun," Ronon says, beside him. "Trains are great."

"I need an extra set of hands over here, could you two quit standing around chit-chatting about your apparent love of trains, what is this, a trainspotting convention?"

Evan sighs, pushes up his sleeves and goes to crouch next to McKay.

++

What the fuck is his life, Evan wonders, as he lies flat against the carriage roof of the battered train. It's moving slowly, reasonably steadily, so at least there's that. He's assuming Ronon has already cleared the tracks of debris because even at this speed if they hit anything –

"—Lorne," he half-hears over his earpiece.

"Say again," he yells.

"Sheppard's tied –" but it's drowned out by the sound of the train and the wind.

He covers his ear with his hand. "Again!"

"Sheppard's tied to the tracks," he hears McKay yell this time.

For fuck's sake. The planet had seemed deserted, long devoid of humans, even if there were old, half-functional pieces of tech lying around. "How?"

"I don't know, some Wraith worshippers came out of nowhere, tied him up, they're saying stop the train or –"

"So stop the fucking train until someone gets him free!"

"I can't! We're stuck on accelerate, do you know what I had to do to even get this thing running, stopping was never going to be the problem, the brakes are shot, and we've got maybe 10 minutes before –"

He tunes McKay out and starts crawling toward the engine, wind pulling at his clothes. Oh, sure. Trains are great. This was a fantastic plan, no problems at all, definitely more efficient than leading a team of eight marines to set charges, so much better than –

"Got him," he hears Ronon say over earpiece. "You can shut up now, McKay."

"And, Major," Sheppard sounds annoyed and also slightly winded, "you've got darts incoming."

Of course he does. "Got it, sir," he replies, gritting his teeth.

++

Evan is kneeling on the roof of the train car. The metal is rough, pebbled, and frankly, it hurts like a bitch to kneel on, and he's not exactly steady up here either.

Ahead he can see the hive, looming and huge – he can imagine the self-repairs happening, the relentless knitting of walls and systems back together, the corridors swarming with impatient, hungry Wraith.  

The first two darts out of the hive had been shot down by someone on the ground, but he can see two more coming, heading straight for him, and he's glad the fucking train – which looks like something out of an old west movie – isn't coal-powered, because the smoke would fuck up his aim.  

He tucks one foot under a convenient lip of metal in front of him, keeps his other knee pressed against the carriage roof, and hefts the AT-4 to his shoulder. The dart is coming in fast, the train is moving slowly, and Evan aims and fires, watches as the HE projectile – modified to penetrate Wraith tech – hits dead centre.

He grins, tosses the spent AT-4 over the side, and reaches for the other one.

The second shot is just as satisfying as the first.

But they're almost at the hive, and Evan can feel the train picking up speed, just as McKay had planned. The train's horn sounds once, twice, fast and sharp, and fuck, about time. Flattening himself back down to the roof, he shimmies to the end of the carriage, and scrambles down the ladder – it's missing rungs, the edges are sharp, but it doesn't crumble under his hands. He drops from the train, rolling badly as he hits the ground, hard enough to crunch something in his chest, a bright shock of pain.  

Fuck.

The train – full of explosives – keeps picking up speed, and he can see it's going to work, it's going to hit the hive and blow the shit out of it, and he's probably too close, and his chest hurts and he can't quite catch his breath, his earpiece has fallen out and he  –

"Come on," Ronon says, pulling him up, dragging him behind the remains of a heavy wall and into some kind of culvert. Evan feels the first explosion as much as he hears it, and then there are the second and third ones as the carriages crash into each other. Eventually, Ronon steps up from their shelter, and when he comes back, he's grinning, sharp and happy. "It worked."

Evan nods. “Sheppard?”

Ronon shrugs. “Rope burns but he’s fine.”

“McKay?”

“Rolled off the train into mud. He’s bitching about it.”

Evan can’t help it, he laughs once, then gasps at the bloom of pain across his side. 

“Broken ribs, huh?" Ronon helps him up, gets his arm under Evan's shoulder. "Not surprised. You took a pretty badass roll from the train.”

When they get back to the tracks, Ronon stops, jerks his head in the direction of the hive. It’s burning hard and fast, surrounded by smoke, and Evan can smell it, the acrid scents of Wraith tech and alien flesh. Ronon grins at him again. "A train. Explosives. You up there, shooting down darts. It was a decent plan."

Maybe. Because it got the job done. But he isn't going to admit it.

Especially not to McKay.

End.

[nimuetheseawitch]

Noir: H

Crow: B

Maine: K

Noir : H - I think I've shared this line before, but I love it.

He shook off more than just the rain as he entered Teyla’s, refocusing on the task at hand. There were more important things to consider than flirting with tall dark strangers.  

Crow: B - I have definitely shared this one before, but it's the only B sentence. And it's fun.

By the time McKay was shoulders deep in a new machine, the bowl would be filled with options for him to choose from, and if he got caught before choosing his prize, McKay would swear even more when his wings knocked the bowl and its contents to the floor.  

Maine: K - no K sentences, but this almost starts with a K, so why not?

The knock is unexpected. Rodney McKay on his doorstep is even more so. It’s cold and raining and McKay looks like a drowned rat and he still almost slams the door in his face.  

[salchat]

It was cold, so cold. John couldn’t see his team.

“Teyla? Rodney?”

“We are here, John.”

“We’re here and we’re sinking and in a minute we’ll be drowning if I can’t get… this… thing… open! Come… on! You piece of…” Rodney’s voice blurred in and out.

“Huh, what?”

“Oh, thank you so much for that erudite contribution, Colonel. And thank you very much indeed for getting us smashed up by asteroids and then crashing-landing us in the middle of the fucking ocean!”

He’d done his best. He always did, even though, many, many times it hadn’t been enough. But thinking like that - or getting pissed at McKay - never helped anyone. John pushed away Ronon’s hands and ripped at his tac vest, pulling out an emergency light-stick and cracking it. A blue glow lit the sloping angle of the Jumper’s rear compartment, the rippling swirl of swiftly-rising water, and Rodney, his hands deep in the overhead controls. Rodney shot him a swift sidelong glance of fear and anger.

“‘Mergency r’lease.” His tongue was clumsy and Rodney’s face blurred.

“Oh.” Rodney snapped his fingers. “I hadn’t thought of that. Isn’t it great that you're here to save the day?” The flood of sarcasm was as cold as the rising water. “Of course I’ve tried the emergency fucking release!” 

Read on AO3

Read on ffn

[whitepolaris]

Tessie, the Monster of Lake Tahoe

The state’s largest freshwater lake, Tahoe has long been rumored to be home to both an underwater Mob graveyard and a huge unknown creature. 

A story often told around Tahoe is that a few years back, a fisherman trolling off the south shore got his hook caught on something in the deeps. When he finally freed his catch from whatever had ensnared it, he reeled it back on his boat and found a well-preserved human ear on the end of the line. (Another version of the tale has the fisherman snagging a three-fingered human hand.)

According to local legend, the nine-hundred-foot-deep waters off the south shore served as a dumping place for Mob victims from the 1920s to the 1950s. Hundreds of gangsters’ corpses are suspended in the depths, they say, preserved from decay and prevented from gas-bloated surfacing by the near-freezing deep waters. So pervasive is this tale that many local fishermen refer to the area as the Graveyard, a Tahoe-boat Mafia execution was featured in the climax of The Godfather, Part II.

Even stranger are the tales of Tessie. Local maintain that a large, unidentified, serpentlike creature lives in the deepest parts of the lake and usually appears around June in even-numbered years. Dubbed Tessie in homage to Loch Ness’s Nessie, the beast allegedly appears in Washoe Indian legend and may have been spotted by nineteenth-century settlers. 

Tessie made headlines in the San Francisco Chronicle on July 12, 1984, when the paper reported that two women had seen the Lake Tahoe leviathan a month earlier. Tahoe City residents Patsy McKay and Diane Stavarakas were hiking above the west shore when they spotted the creature swimming in the lake. 

McKay said the beast was about seventeen feet long. She watched it closely and saw it surface three times “like a little submarine.” Her companion said that the creature had a humped back and seemed to surface in a whalelilke, lethargic manner. She was also sure tha tit wasn’t a diver, a log, or a large ripple.

Two years earlier a pair of off-duty Reno policemen had also taken a turn with Tessie. Officers Kris Beebe and Jerry Jones were water-skiing in the late in June 1982 when an “unusually large” creature swam by them. 

Another story about Tahoe asserts that there’s an underground river system that links the lake with Pyramid Lake, fifty miles to the north in Nevada. Apparently, the bodies of people who have drowned in Tahoe have surfaced in Pyramid Lake. This phenomenon, however, might be due to the corpses’ floating over the north Tahoe spillway onto the Truckee River and then downstream to Pyramid Lake. 

The closet anyone ever came to figuring out Tahoe’s mysteries were in the mis-1970s. Famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau brought a minisubmarine to the lake and did several dives in search of the bottom, 1,600 feet below the surface. When he came back up, he is alleged to have said, “The world isn’t ready for what is down there.” To his death, Cousteau refused to release any pictures or data from the expedition. 

What did the legendary diver find? Pinstripe suited, bullet-riddled corpses bobbing in the dark depths? A colony of living, amphibian dinosaurs? Or something even weirder? 

The answers still lie in the chilly depths of blue Lake Tahoe.

[beyonddarkness]

My sister wanted me to do a breakdown of Sauron | Run Boy Run, so here we go. I want to flesh out these topics more in future posts, so I will try to refrain from excessive elaboration. Still, this post is relatively lengthy, so sit back with some ice cream or something, and let the brain gears start rolling. 🍨⚙️🧠

First, here is the understatement of the century, from Patrick:

"We’re not really coming from a place of wanting to add Easter eggs, although that’s there too. We’re coming from a place of wanting to create something that is as visually sumptuous and rich as those books are, literarily. If you like the show, hopefully, maybe you’ll watch it again and you’ll notice all kinds of new things, whether it’s something in the dialogue, or something in the set design, or something in the costuming, that is hopefully communicating a whole other layer of meaning. And if you’re a fan, there’s no end to the deep dive you could be doing. We wanted the show to be something that rewarded reviewing. We wanted the show to be rich and layered and overwhelming. The way you do that is to just keep adding ideas. And when you’re dealing with Middle-earth, there’s no end to how far you could go." -Patrick McKay

I, myself, am extremely overwhelmed. All of the following skims the very surface of what I want to talk about (and there are still things I want to cover that are not even mentioned here). If you would like an idea of what is going to be on this blog, read everything! Perhaps it might be illuminating.

At first, I tried using the original song of Run Boy Run (which has vocals), but the nature of the song required the dialogue to be semi-lyrical. Alongside the singing, it became messy, and the intermissions were too intense to drown out with speaking. I stormed through two drafts, before realizing there was an instrumental version; and it took me two more drafts to finalize the topic. Suddenly, it became a preview for a lot of things I want to talk about, so my sister calls it my Blog Trailer.

Click the link for a full breakdown of the video. The end should be worth it. You probably won't see it coming. (I'm still a little shaken, tbh.)

[its-deputy-caleb]

Day Ten –“Sneaking Glances”

character: Yelena Morales | 991 words |

summary: caught in a argument between la moral, libertad and the legends, you can’t help but be drawn to yelena the whole time and neither of you can keep your eyes from each other

note: i wrote this in five mins cause i’m so behind lmao and even tho i love yelena and wanted to do her justice since she’s one of my faves i just don’t like how this turned out :( i might come back and change this later but i still wanted to meet the dead line of getting it posted today

Holy fuck this meeting was boring.

For almost three hours straight members of La Moral, Libertad and the Legends had been at each other's throats, arguing over this and that. At first it was who got first dibs on medicine but it quickly boiled over into an ugly battle over territory.

La Moral wanted the Legends to stay tucked away in Patriotas Peak, licking their wounds so they could do the ‘real fighting’ and the Legends wanted La Moral to step back so they could reclaim the spotlight of El Este’s strongest guerrilla groups. At some point during the meeting, Dani tried to step in, to be the voice of reason but that got her nowhere once people questioned Libertad’s motives in all of this.

Eventually it reached a stage where the arguing was pointless. Hostages from all the groups had been taken and captured under Admiral Benitez– there was no time to waste squabbling amongst each other but anyone who had voiced any reason had been shut down.

Whilst Jonrón was on her third round of bickering with The Legends, your eyes drifted over to Yelena who was seated beside you. She looked tired and defeated– this was getting you nowhere and you could tell underneath her stoicism that all the heated tension between the groups was wearing her down.

She had stopped interjecting a while ago, instead choosing to listen as she pinched the bridge of her nose and rested her arms on the large table set up in the middle of El Agujero base in Concepción. It probably didn’t help that she spent her days hunched over files in a damp basement all the time and if it wasn’t for the curfew and heavy FND presence in the town, you’d take her out more.

Just wait until we take out Benitez and that fucker Mckay– then we’ll be free to be together.

Your eyes meet her exhausted ones, and she softens at the reassuring look you give her. All the groaning and swearing is drowned out around you as the two of you share glances at each other. It’s only when the yelling picks up again or a new argument rises does your attention flicker back to the task at hand.

And so it goes on like that. For however many hours of pointless bickering, your eyes always find each other and the sneaking glances are thrown your way. Eventually, your hands gravitate towards Yelena’s own, finding her fingers spread over her thigh as you loop your fingers together and squeeze reassuringly from underneath the protection of the table.

“For fucks sake! Can we stop arguing and go save our people, our friends– our family?!” Your voice is full of confidence, and possibly a hint of annoyance from repeating the same idea for so long. But even through it all your hand never leaves Yelena’s.

“Castillo wants to divide us all. True Yarans. Fake Yarans. It’s all one Yara.” Dani gives the two of you a nod of approval and something like consensus shifts in the room. The petty insults cease from all sides and Gilberto makes some calls to gather the men, finally realising that everyone is getting along enough to go out and save your people.

“Hah! You stole that right outta Clara’s book Bebé Tigre!” El Tigre’s infectious laughter seems to have everyone relaxing. Dani breathes a sigh of relief and you can’t help but notice the way Jonrón’s eyes light up as she idolises the Legends once more.

“I think we’ve wasted enough time standing around here. Dani, will you come with us to help save our people? We’ll lend you the medicine as gratitude.” Yelena’s voice is steady and calm as she leads the group. Her natural leadership is one of the things you love and admire about her, the way she speaks from the heart but still fighting for those she loves. 

Her hand snakes from your fingers up to your wrist, rubbing slow circles with her thumb as she tries to subtly pull you closer to her. Physical affection always grounded her in stressful situations.

Dani nods without a moment's hesitation, reloading her handgun and adjusting the strange looking rocket booster on her shoulders. Hey, there’s no judging anyone’s fashion statements in times of crisis.

“Bebé Tigre, you best not think of sidelining me! I may be old but this guerrilla legend has some kick left in him,” El Tigre jumps up with Dani, flexing his arms as he grabs some spare ammo from the centre of the table before turning towards where you and Yelena are sitting. “And for the love of God– would you two just kiss already? You’ve been staring at each other for the past four hours.”

Both you and Yelena squeak at that, unused to any outright attention unless it’s coming from Gilberto or Jonrón on the rare occasion at one of La Morals parties. She blushes profusely, going to restack some of the maps by her computer in an awkward attempt to keep her hands busy.

You’re not so fortunate as El Tigre throws an arm around your shoulders for some of his infamous Legend wisdom. “Oh to be young and in love again– there’s nothing quite like a romance between revolutions.”

Just as he is about to lead you up the steps towards the entrance, you glance over his arm to find Yelena already gazing back at you. She gives a big wave and wishes good luck on returning safely but her flustered shyness appears once you blow her a kiss and return her wave.  You can’t help the way your stomach warms at the sight of her dramatically catching the kiss and holding it close to her chest from the corner of your eye. 

El Tigre certainly isn’t going to let you forget how cute you two are together through the whole drive down to the docks.

[citykept]

TAG DROP ;; 

⤷  file  /  from the writer’s desk.

⤷  file  /  memes & sentence starters.

⤷  file  /  promo.

⤷  file  /  self promo.

⤷  file  /  interactions.

⤷  char.  /  portrayal notes.

⤷  char.  /  character study.

⤷  char.  /  visage.

⤷  char.  /  aesthetics.

⤷  rel.  /  teyla emmagan.

⤷  rel.  /  john sheppard.

⤷  rel.  /  carson beckett. 

⤷  rel.  /  peter grodin.

⤷  rel.  /  simon wallace.

⤷  rel.  /  rodney mckay.

⤷  rel.  /  doctordonovan  |  but even stars fight their own gravity.

⤷  rel.  /  doctordonovan  |  take my hand as we drown in the ocean; as we fall into eternity.